Lucas sat in the park bench gazing at the water for a long time. A very long time. The sun was just beginning to cast a pale glow on the sky when a voice startled him from his almost hypnotic state.
"You seem troubled" said a man from behind him.
The voice immediately sent chills down Lucas's spine, because he recognized it as a voice that he hadn't heard in years.
A shadowy figure appeared in the peripheral of his right eye and proceeded to move on to the bench. What was odd, however, was that the bench didn't move at all when the figure sat, as if it was weightless.
"You...uh...okay?" mumbled the figure, in an almost shaky voice, with a hint of apprehensive tones.
Lucas turned his head and his heart sank, sitting next to him was his father, or something resembling his father, because his father had died two years ago (of perfectly natural causes). He didn't believe in supernatural things like ghosts or monsters, because those are illogical, and his mother and father never addressed anything but the concrete facts of life with utmost seriousness.
"No! You're not there, I'm not seeing you! This...this is a dream! I fell asleep on the bench and I'm making this up!" shouted Lucas.
"You've been troubled, Luke. I can't do anything about it so let's...let's just be happy? Right? Because some things you can't fix."
"That's always been your philosophy, if you can't fix it, no one can!"
"Don't say those things to me!" said his father.
"Why are you always been disappointed in me? Should I have just been a pilot like Mark and John? Maybe then you'd have thought I was something."
"Lucas? Lucas what the hell are you doing?" said someone as they shook his shoulder. "My...my dad is here." "Your dad? Matthew? No, Lucas, no one is here other than me." Lucas turned around to see Pink standing over him, a perplexed and worried look held his face. "But I–" he turned around and looked at the bench, it was empty. "Come on man, let's get you back home." "I was evicted." "Oh...then where will you stay?" "The Sawmill Theatre! I've spent plenty of nights there before." "Well, let's get you some coffee then, come on.
Lucas got up and shuffled alongside Pink to the coffee shop, still shaken by what he had just experienced.
Pink drank himself away in Isabellas. Lucas Shaffer welcomed himself into the seat next to him.
ReplyDelete“Why are you doing this to yourself, man?” Lucas questioned.
“My dad just disappeared in thin air.” replied Pink in a drunken stutter.
“Your dad? You never had a father Pink. It has been you and your mom on this whole trip we call life.”
“Do you remember the days in the orphanage school. Do you remember a certain teacher, Father Floyd?”
“No, man. I think you have been drinking too much. We had a Father Frank as a teacher. I thought for sure you would remember him. That abstinent fucker gave you hell. Whenever you wrote a poem, he would pick it up and tell you poems were for the birds.”
“Lucas, what the fuck are you talking about? We had a teacher named Father Floyd. That teacher was my father. I saw him just a minute ago, and then, poof, he was gone.”
“Pink, Pull yourself together. There has never been a Father Floyd. Maybe your Dad is still alive, or maybe his spirit is haunting you, but seriously man. Your perception of reality is unclear. It just doesn’t make sense.
Pink waved for another drink. The bartender had cut him off. Pink stood up to leave out of the bar. he could barely walk in a straight line.
“Where do you think you are going man.”
“To see my father, he is here, and always has been.”
“I’ll come check up on you in a couple of days Pink.”
“Until you believe me Lucas, you can fuck off.”
Pink slammed the door to Isabellas. Lucas sat there, left to question Pinks destructive mental state.